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Wed, 25 Jul 2018 20:35:42 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1U. of North Dakota Professor Resigns, Citing Rejection of Proposed Lectures on Pipeline Protestshttps://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/u-of-north-dakota-professor-resigns-citing-rejection-of-proposed-lectures-on-pipeline-protests/120807
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/u-of-north-dakota-professor-resigns-citing-rejection-of-proposed-lectures-on-pipeline-protests/120807#commentsFri, 27 Oct 2017 21:13:09 +0000Liam Adamshttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120807A journalism professor at the University of North Dakota resigned on Thursday after he said the institution had rejected his proposal to lead a lecture series on protests over the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The proposed lectures would have covered how the Standing Rock Tribe, which led the protests, was discussed on social media, and it was the second proposal about the protests to be rejected, said the professor, Mark Trahant, according to Associated Press.

]]>A journalism professor at the University of North Dakota resigned on Thursday after he said the institution had rejected his proposal to lead a lecture series on protests over the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The proposed lectures would have covered how the Standing Rock Tribe, which led the protests, was discussed on social media, and it was the second proposal about the protests to be rejected, said the professor, Mark Trahant, according to Associated Press.

When asked last year to create a journalism lecture series, Mr. Trahant, who held an endowed chair, said he had proposed inviting journalists who had covered the pipeline protests. After that proposal was rejected and the series was “put on hold,” Mr. Trahant this year offered a new proposal, about social media and Standing Rock, which was also rejected. Mr. Trahant is a member of Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribe and a former president of the Native American Journalists Association.

Mr. Trahant said the decision on his proposal had been made by the “provost’s and president’s office.” Mark Kennedy, the university’s president, denied he had played any role in canceling Mr. Trahant’s proposed lecture series, the AP reported.

The professor said a reason for the rejection was that “senior administration fears that the [state] legislature might retaliate.” A university official said senior administrators had never “expressed any fear of retaliation by the North Dakota legislature.”

Mr. Trahant said he was “disappointed” in the university for not serving as a leader in the state. The university “should be a beam of light, shining on the protected realm of rational discourse,” he wrote.

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/u-of-north-dakota-professor-resigns-citing-rejection-of-proposed-lectures-on-pipeline-protests/120807/feed0Clemson Student Leader, Who Sat During Pledge of Allegiance as Protest, Is Impeachedhttps://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/clemson-student-leader-who-sat-during-pledge-of-allegiance-as-protest-is-impeached/120801
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/clemson-student-leader-who-sat-during-pledge-of-allegiance-as-protest-is-impeached/120801#commentsThu, 26 Oct 2017 21:00:23 +0000Andy Thomasonhttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120801Jaren Stewart, Clemson University’s student-body vice president who sat in protest during the Pledge of Allegiance, has been impeached by the student senate, the Associated Press reports. But a spokesman for the university, John Gouch, told the AP that the move to impeach Mr. Stewart began before he started protesting.

According to the AP, the student leader behind the move to impeach, Miller Hoffman, said it was related to a document that alleged Mr. Stewart had engaged in misconduct. Mr. Stew...

]]>Jaren Stewart, Clemson University’s student-body vice president who sat in protest during the Pledge of Allegiance, has been impeached by the student senate, the Associated Press reports. But a spokesman for the university, John Gouch, told the AP that the move to impeach Mr. Stewart began before he started protesting.

According to the AP, the student leader behind the move to impeach, Miller Hoffman, said it was related to a document that alleged Mr. Stewart had engaged in misconduct. Mr. Stewart was out of town when he was impeached.

Along with some other student-government leaders, Mr. Stewart remained sitting while the Pledge of Allegiance was recited at a student-government meeting in September. Mr. Stewart, who is black, did so in solidarity with NFL players who have protested racism by taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem, the AP reports.

The senate will now hold an impeachment hearing at which Mr. Stewart will be tried and, possibly, removed from office.

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/clemson-student-leader-who-sat-during-pledge-of-allegiance-as-protest-is-impeached/120801/feed0After an Alcohol-Soaked Retreat, Sexual-Harassment Complaints, and a Suicide, UC-Davis Faces a Lawsuithttps://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/after-an-alcohol-soaked-retreat-sexual-harassment-complaints-and-a-suicide-uc-davis-faces-a-lawsuit/120779
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/after-an-alcohol-soaked-retreat-sexual-harassment-complaints-and-a-suicide-uc-davis-faces-a-lawsuit/120779#commentsWed, 25 Oct 2017 17:30:50 +0000Sam Hoisingtonhttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120779The widow of a former employee of the University of California at Davis has sued the institution, alleging that its investigation of sexual-harassment claims stemming from an alcohol-soaked retreat led to her husband’s death, The Sacramento Bee reports.

The newspaper provided a detailed account of a rowdy university trip that Col. Christopher De Los Santos, administrator of a department supporting the university’s agriculture college and an officer in the Air Force, took with 16 other staff memb...

]]>The widow of a former employee of the University of California at Davis has sued the institution, alleging that its investigation of sexual-harassment claims stemming from an alcohol-soaked retreat led to her husband’s death, The Sacramento Bee reports.

The newspaper provided a detailed account of a rowdy university trip that Col. Christopher De Los Santos, administrator of a department supporting the university’s agriculture college and an officer in the Air Force, took with 16 other staff members in October 2015. Two employees on that trip filed complaints about his actions.

On the two-day retreat, the staff members toured a lettuce-growing operation in Salinas, Calif., about three hours from the Davis campus. One employee likened the trip to a “booze cruise,” with attendees drinking at dinner, in the hotel afterward, and even on the initial car ride to Salinas. Later, employees alleged, Colonel De Los Santos stripped naked after drinking, suggesting to female employees that “maybe we should take a bath,” according to university documents cited by the Bee.

Shortly after the trip, the university notified Colonel De Los Santos by email that it was placing him on leave, pending the outcome of its investigation into the sexual-harassment complaints. He committed suicide shortly after.

His widow, Lisa De Los Santos, alleges in a lawsuit that the university handled her husband’s sexual-harassment case differently than others because of his military background.

The lawsuit says that some administrators “told the dean that they did not want Col. De Los Santos to come in to work because he ‘might show up with a gun’ and/or ‘need to be escorted off campus by security’ due to his military background.” Other individuals under investigation for similar accusations in the past had been allowed to come to work, the lawsuit alleges.

The university countered that claim in a written statement. “The university’s actions were entirely appropriate under the circumstances, and this lawsuit is an unfortunate development in an already tragic situation,” the statement says.

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/after-an-alcohol-soaked-retreat-sexual-harassment-complaints-and-a-suicide-uc-davis-faces-a-lawsuit/120779/feed02 Are Shot and Killed on Grambling State’s Campus After Fight That Began in Dorm Roomhttps://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/2-are-shot-and-killed-on-grambling-states-campus-after-fight-that-began-in-dorm-room/120776
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/2-are-shot-and-killed-on-grambling-states-campus-after-fight-that-began-in-dorm-room/120776#commentsWed, 25 Oct 2017 11:36:21 +0000Andy Thomasonhttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120776A student and a friend were shot after an “altercation” that began in a Grambling State University dormitory room and ended in a campus courtyard early Wednesday morning, the Associated Press reports. The police said the shooter had fled the scene.

CNN reports that the police said they had learned of the shooting when a student called the campus’s police chief on his cellphone. The police were interviewing witnesses as of early Wednesday morning.

]]>A student and a friend were shot after an “altercation” that began in a Grambling State University dormitory room and ended in a campus courtyard early Wednesday morning, the Associated Press reports. The police said the shooter had fled the scene.

CNN reports that the police said they had learned of the shooting when a student called the campus’s police chief on his cellphone. The police were interviewing witnesses as of early Wednesday morning.

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/2-are-shot-and-killed-on-grambling-states-campus-after-fight-that-began-in-dorm-room/120776/feed0Memphis College of Art Is Closinghttps://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/memphis-college-of-art-is-closing/120769
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/memphis-college-of-art-is-closing/120769#commentsTue, 24 Oct 2017 18:12:54 +0000Fernanda Zamudio-Suarézhttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120769The Memphis College of Art, a private institution in Tennessee, is closing, the college announced on Tuesday.

The closure was attributed to declining enrollment, mounting real-estate debt, and not having a plan for long-term financial sustainability. Administrators expect that the college will remain open through May 2020 on a teach-out plan, but it will cease recruiting new students.

]]>The Memphis College of Art, a private institution in Tennessee, is closing, the college announced on Tuesday.

The closure was attributed to declining enrollment, mounting real-estate debt, and not having a plan for long-term financial sustainability. Administrators expect that the college will remain open through May 2020 on a teach-out plan, but it will cease recruiting new students.

“This has been a heartbreaking process,” Laura Hine, interim president, said in a written statement. “But we remain proud of the creative energy MCA artists have long brought to Memphis, and are eternally grateful to the donors and foundations who have sustained us throughout our 81-year history.”

In 2016 three small private colleges shut their doors, citing debt and declining enrollment.

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/memphis-college-of-art-is-closing/120769/feed0Former Student Is Charged With Racist Vandalism at Eastern Michigan U.https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/former-student-is-charged-with-racist-vandalism-at-eastern-michigan-u/120758
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/former-student-is-charged-with-racist-vandalism-at-eastern-michigan-u/120758#commentsTue, 24 Oct 2017 16:43:44 +0000Liam Adamshttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120758A former student at Eastern Michigan University has been charged with vandalism over racist graffiti posted on the campus since the fall of 2016. Twenty-nine-year-old Eddie Curlin faces “three counts of malicious destruction of property, four counts of identity theft, and one count of using computers to commit a crime,” according to a university statement.

In September 2016, “KKK” was spray-painted in red, white, and blue on a dormitory wall. A month later, on Halloween, a message was scrawl...

]]>A former student at Eastern Michigan University has been charged with vandalism over racist graffiti posted on the campus since the fall of 2016. Twenty-nine-year-old Eddie Curlin faces “three counts of malicious destruction of property, four counts of identity theft, and one count of using computers to commit a crime,” according to a university statement.

In September 2016, “KKK” was spray-painted in red, white, and blue on a dormitory wall. A month later, on Halloween, a message was scrawled on another wall telling blacks to leave and referring to them with the n-word, reports The Washington Post. Then, this past September 27, a message on a stall in a men’s bathroom of the student center used the n-word in calling for black people to “die,” according to Eastern Michigan’s student newspaper, The Eastern Echo. Mr. Curlin is black.

Jaiquae Rodwell, a black student at the university, told the Echo that it’s “embarrassing” for another black person to use “the n-word in a negative way.”

Eastern Michigan’s police department, along with the FBI and other local police departments, committed more than 1,000 hours to the investigation, interviewing more than 60 people and watching 1,200 hours of video from 100 campus cameras, according to the university’s statement.

James M. Smith, Eastern Michigan’s president, said the vandalism had “created significant pain, fear, and distress among our students, faculty, and staff.” Since the incidents, the university has added more lighting and cameras to the campus, and established a Presidential Commission on Diversity and Inclusion.

According to the Post, Mr. Curlin is now serving a one- to five-year sentence for receiving and concealing stolen property. His preliminary hearing on the new charges will take place on November 9.

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/former-student-is-charged-with-racist-vandalism-at-eastern-michigan-u/120758/feed0Ever Had a Weird Experience Grading Papers or Tests? Tell Us About It.https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/ever-had-a-weird-experience-grading-papers-or-tests-tell-us-about-it/120731
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/ever-had-a-weird-experience-grading-papers-or-tests-tell-us-about-it/120731#commentsFri, 20 Oct 2017 18:31:39 +0000Sam Hoisingtonhttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120731A viral tweet would have you believe that a college student learned about failing a midterm in the most unwelcome of ways — from a stranger via Twitter. In short, on Thursday someone tweeted that, after nosily eyeing a professor grading papers on an airplane, a student named Taiwan Jones had definitely failed a midterm. An account named Taiwan Jones responded to the tweet with a terse “….”

]]>A viral tweet would have you believe that a college student learned about failing a midterm in the most unwelcome of ways — from a stranger via Twitter. In short, on Thursday someone tweeted that, after nosily eyeing a professor grading papers on an airplane, a student named Taiwan Jones had definitely failed a midterm. An account named Taiwan Jones responded to the tweet with a terse “….”

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/ever-had-a-weird-experience-grading-papers-or-tests-tell-us-about-it/120731/feed0A Bunch of Conservative Students Dressed Up as Babies to Protest Safe Spaceshttps://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/a-bunch-of-conservative-students-dressed-up-as-babies-to-protest-safe-spaces/120706
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/a-bunch-of-conservative-students-dressed-up-as-babies-to-protest-safe-spaces/120706#commentsThu, 19 Oct 2017 21:29:09 +0000Andy Thomasonhttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120706Members of the Kent State University chapter of Turning Point USA, a right-wing student group, dressed up in diapers as babies on Wednesday to protest safe spaces. A photojournalist on the campus tweeted several photos of the protest:

]]>Members of the Kent State University chapter of Turning Point USA, a right-wing student group, dressed up in diapers as babies on Wednesday to protest safe spaces. A photojournalist on the campus tweeted several photos of the protest:

A graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania said administrators pulled them from the classroom over the use of a teaching technique, according to a set of messages on Twitter.

Stephanie McKellop, who uses they/them pronouns, wrote in a series of posts that are set to private that the university was going to condemn McKellop for using progressive stacking, a method aimed at offering marginalized students a greater chan...

]]>Updated (10/19/2017, 4:52 p.m.) with statement from the university.

A graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania said administrators pulled them from the classroom over the use of a teaching technique, according to a set of messages on Twitter.

Stephanie McKellop, who uses they/them pronouns, wrote in a series of posts that are set to private that the university was going to condemn McKellop for using progressive stacking, a method aimed at offering marginalized students a greater chance at speaking in the classroom. McKellop, who is in the department of history, accused the university of caving in to the pressure of outside agitators.

“Hi Friends, the University of Pennsylvania is issuing a press release condemning me and my teaching practices. It comes out tomorrow,” McKellop wrote in one of the messages. “Because this involves calling on Black students more readily than white men, the white nationalists and Nazis were very upset.” The post containing the screenshots of messages was sent out on Wednesday night. In a different set of messages, McKellop wrote, “They did keep me from going to lecture with my students and they *cancelled* their classes with me this week.”

Steven J. Fluharty, dean of Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, said in a written statement that the university recognizes the importance of making sure marginalized students have a chance to speak, and that it is committed to providing “respectful work and learning environments for all members of our community.”

“The university’s policies prohibiting discrimination are intended to reinforce our commitment to equity and inclusion,” he continued. “We are looking into the current matter involving a graduate-student teaching assistant to ensure that our students were not subjected to discriminatory practices in the classroom and to ensure that all of our students feel heard and equally engaged. Contrary to some reports, the graduate student has not been removed from the program, and we have and will continue to respect and protect the graduate student’s right to due process.”

Academics on Twitter rallied around McKellop as another case of a university administration’s bowing to outsiders rather than protecting its students or instructors. A similar criticism was made of Drexel University when it put George Ciccariello-Maher on leave after he received numerous hate messages and death threats, and was then pulled from the classroom. Some wrote letters for McKellop, while others expressed their support on Twitter. McKellop did not immediately respond to messages sent by The Chronicle on Thursday.

Nolan L. Cabrera, an associate professor of educational-policy studies and practice at the University of Arizona, offered an explanation of the term “progressive stacking.”

“In college classrooms,” he says, “it’s very common for people of privileged social identities to dominate conversations.”

The technique was used in the Occupy movement, Mr. Cabrera says, and as he understands it, it isn’t widely used in academic settings. Here’s how the technique could play out in a classroom. A professor asks a question, and a number of students raise their hands. That’s the stack. Typically, an instructor might call on students in the order their hands went up, Mr. Cabrera explains. If the professor instead uses progressive stacking, he or she might call on students from marginalized groups first.

The technique is sometimes misunderstood, Mr. Cabrera says. Some imagine it requires a professor to call on marginalized students who have not volunteered to speak, putting them on the spot. Others think it means not calling on white men. Progressive stacking is neither of those things, Mr. Cabrera says. It’s simply “an acknowledgment that traditional pedagogical techniques have silenced marginal voices.” Ultimately, he adds, it’s not much different from something professors do frequently — asking to hear from students who haven’t contributed yet, instead of allowing the same handful to dominate a class discussion.

]]>https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/grad-student-sounds-alarms-over-penns-response-to-online-attacks/120693/feed0U. of Maryland Student Is Charged With Hate Crime in Killing of Bowie State Studenthttps://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/u-of-maryland-student-is-charged-with-hate-crime-in-killing-of-bowie-state-student/120681
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/u-of-maryland-student-is-charged-with-hate-crime-in-killing-of-bowie-state-student/120681#commentsTue, 17 Oct 2017 21:51:56 +0000Liam Adamshttp://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/?p=120681Sean Christopher Urbanski was charged on Tuesday with committing a hate crime in the May 20 killing of Richard W. Collins III at the University of Maryland at College Park, The Washington Post reported. Mr. Urbanski, who is white, had been arrested in the stabbing of Mr. Collins, a black student at Bowie State University.

The FBI and other authorities are investigating whether Mr. Urbanski’s attack was racially charged. He was a member of the Facebook group “Alt-Reich: Nation.” Mr. Urbansk...

]]>Sean Christopher Urbanski was charged on Tuesday with committing a hate crime in the May 20 killing of Richard W. Collins III at the University of Maryland at College Park, The Washington Post reported. Mr. Urbanski, who is white, had been arrested in the stabbing of Mr. Collins, a black student at Bowie State University.

The FBI and other authorities are investigating whether Mr. Urbanski’s attack was racially charged. He was a member of the Facebook group “Alt-Reich: Nation.” Mr. Urbanski, who was a student at Maryland, has also been charged with first- and second-degree murder and first-degree assault.

Mr. Collins, who was waiting for an Uber ride with friends, was approached by Mr. Urbanski, who said, “Step left if you know what’s best for you,” according to the police. When Mr. Collins refused, the police say, Mr. Urbanski stabbed Mr. Collins and fled the scene. Mr. Collins, a newly commissioned U.S. Army lieutenant who was to graduate from Bowie State only a few days later, died soon after being stabbed.

Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County state’s attorney, wants Mr. Urbanski to face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if he is convicted, according to the Post. His trial will commence in January.